I'm a fan of keeping the truck as original as possible. I just think they are works of art/beautiful as they came off the production line. I just don't like the look of a modified/dropped truck. Chop tops on trucks turn my stomach. Again, its all personal preference.
The comment I always make is that these trucks don't "NEED" to be modified to be safe and enjoyable. In their day they were state of the art. I well maintained original equipment truck is perfectly safe to operate and fun to drive. By looking at magazines/websites/trucks at shows it is easy to get the impression that they have to be modified to be useable. That is not so. I have a 58 Suburban that is mostly original. A previous owner put a 250 in place of the 235. I swapped in a 3 speed overdrive from a 67 C10. I can keep up on the highway and it drives and brakes straight and true. I've always intended to keep my truck functional as a truck.
There has been a lot of discussion on this site about brakes on these old trucks. Switching to discs doesn't necessarily make the truck safer. As long as your brakes are capable of locking the wheels during braking, they will provide sufficient stopping power. If you will be doing repeated hard braking discs will perform better do to their ability to cool faster. With repeated hard stops on drum brakes you will get residual heat in the drums that will decrease braking ability. If you are going to auto cross your truck discs are probably a good upgrade. If not, clean and adjust what you have and you will do just fine. I will say that adding a dual chamber master cylinder is a legitimate safety upgrade. That will prevent a catastrophic failure if you blow out a brake line.
That is a very long way of saying that if you really want to modify your truck because of your personal preference, go for it. Its not for me but I respect those that enjoy that part of the "sport." Just go into it with you eyes wide open. You don't have to mod your truck to make it safe and enjoyable. I love driving my Burb just the way it is. I feel perfectly safe.
